𝙇𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝘽𝙤𝙙𝙮 : ̗̀➛ 𝙙.𝙙

𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙛

1 week later

Del stood in the mirror, watching the white dress fall just above her knees. Her belly poked out like a mound of dirt.

"You look pretty." Jake leaned in the doorway. She gave him a soft smile, not seeing herself dress like a decent human in a long time.

"I look pregnant."

"But pretty. You look old now... in a good way."

She looked at her little brother, who didn't look so little anymore. His clothes were unwrinkled, he smelled like teenage boy cologne.

"You look old."

"You look like Kay."

Those words made her head drop, her chest hurt thinking about her sister.

"I didn't mean-" he started.

"No. I know what you meant... You look like Eddie."

He gave her a soft smile, coming to stand beside her in the mirror. He did look like Eddie the older he got.

"The last two standing... I always thought they would make it longer than us."

Del looked at her brothers reflection in the mirror.

"I didn't. I knew you would be the last one standing."

He playfully nudged her, chuckling.

"Not yet."

She rolled her eyes, combing her fingers through her soft hair. It had grown so much since the prison.

"Come on."

: ̗̀➛

Del stood in the corner, watching everyone socialize, drink wine, and smile. It was almost sick to her how they could smile. Sick to her how they didn't know how the outside world was really like.

"You wanna leave?" Daryl mumbled next to her. She nudged him, as if to say "quit it" because she knew she had forced him to come to Jessies dinner party, but it was polite for them to go.

She watched Jake and Carl laugh with their new friends. He had began gaining the light back to his eyes since they had been there. The room felt almost empty, however. A room without her sister, without Annie and Abel, without Eddie, and without Beth and Hershel. She felt almost guilty she got to experience and they didn't.

"Kay would have loved it here... Beth too," she whispered, not even really meaning for Daryl to hear it, but he did. She just stared ahead. These people hadn't yet lost hope, hadn't watched their loved one torn apart. She hated it, but she was envious. She had lost too many friends to count now, but these people didn't know what it was like to have that hole in their hearts of missing someone so much.

"Wine?" Jessie came around, two glasses of wine in her hands, a friendly smile.

"Oh, no... I uh..." Del tried to shake herself from her fog.

"She's pregnant," Daryl replied in a not-so-friendly way, making Jessies smile drop and her turn on her heel.

Del felt her chest get heavier the more she stared.

"I think i'm ready to go now," she mumbled.

"But ya just said-"

"You must me Del and Daryl!" An older woman with a big warm smile stood in front of them, Del could feel her heart in her finger tips. "I'm Joyce and this is my husband, Earl. Would you like something to eat? We made the meatloaf ourselves... I was worried it wouldn't taste good without any ketchup but-"

"What?" Del said, almost in a snappy tone as she furrowed her eyebrows. The woman and her husband seemed to share a confused look before she repeated herself.

"The meatloaf.... I was worried it wouldn't-"

"That's what you worry about?" Del scoffed. She felt Daryl hand on her arm, trying to softly pull her away. "You worry about a goddamn meatloaf?!" Del snapped loud enough for a silence to fall in the crowd. All eyes fell on her.

Daryl gently pulled her out the door into the dark night. She couldn't feel her face, overcome by an anger she didn't even know why she had.

"What was that?" Daryl muttered, trying to guide her back towards their house.

"A fucking meatloaf, Daryl. That's what these people worry about... I worry that I wont live long enough to see our child grow... That I have to wake up every morning and get hit with the realization that people I love are dead and gone. I have to worry that someone else I love will die tomorrow." She stared at the street ahead. Hot, quiet tears had began rolling down her cheeks now.

Daryl didn't say anything in response, just stared at her with guilt in his eyes. Del hated that pitiful look.

"Did I embarrass you?" He voice shook as she looked up at him. He scoffed, shaking his head.

"You could never embarrass me, babydoll. Let's get you home, yeah?"

She wiped away her tears with the back of her hands, so much love filled her body looking at him in that moment as she nodded her head.